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Saturday, December 27, 2008

Whale Navy in action - thank you Paul

Japanese whalers and Sea Shepherd clash

Takver - Sydney Indymedia 27.12.2008 04:38 Themen: Ökologie
The Sea Shepherd ship MV Steve Irwin, crewed by anti-whaling activists, has collided with the Japanese whaling ship Kaiko Maru causing minor damage to both ships, and no crew injuries, in Antarctic waters. Australian citizen Jeff Hansen from Perth, Western Australia, ordered the Japanese whaling ship Kaiko Maru to cease whaling operations and leave Australian territorial waters.
The clash ocurred north of the Mawson Peninsula, within the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone and Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/images/frontpage/oceans/whaling/japan_whaling.jpg

The Japanese whaling ship Haiko Maru emerged from dense fog in front of the the Sea Shepherd MV Steve Irwin, crewed by anti-whaling activists about 0730 GMT December 26th, 2008.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa232/cowg1rl852/Steve_Irwin_sailing2.jpg

The Kaiko Maru had been undertaking a detour in the ice pack area after completing the day’s research activities, according to the Institute Of Cetacean Research (ICA).

The Steve Irwin pursued and came alongside the Kaiko Maru for anti-whaling activists to throw 10 bottles of rotten butter and 15 bottles of a methyl cellulose and indelible dye mixture.

According to the Sea Shepherd news report "As the Steve Irwin came alongside the starboard side of the Kaiko Maru, the whaler steered hard to starboard and struck the Steve Irwin lightly crushing part of the aft port helicopter deck guard rails on the Sea Shepherd ship. There was no serious damage to either ship."

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/04/01/Dead_seal_close_up_gallery__533x400,0.jpg

According to a press release by the Institute Of Cetacean Research "The Steve Irwin rammed the Kaiko Maru from the starboard rear side and spent a number of hours in dangerous close-quarter harassment of the Japanese vessel, repeatedly overtaking and circling the Kaiko Maru."

The ICA confirmed that the "topside starboard rear bulwark was damaged" but the damage is "no hindrance to its present operation and research activities".

After the collision, the Sea Shepherd repeatedly overtook and turned around the Kaiko Maru for approximately three hours, according to the ICA, then the Sea Shepherd ship changed course to the east.

Sea Shepherd has been pursuing the whaling fleet east for a week through heavy fog, dense ice and blizzard conditions. While the Whaling fleet has been pursued no whales have been caught.

"Our objective now is to chase them out of Australia's Economic Exclusion Zone," said Captain Paul Watson. "I have a chart here and it clearly states that these waters are Australian EEZ. There is an Australian Federal Court Order specifically prohibiting these ships from whaling in these waters. We have informed the whalers they are in contempt of this Court ruling."

"We still have them on the run and we intend to keep them on the run for as long as our fuel resources allow," said Captain Watson.

In October 2008 the whaling fleet's refueling and cargo vessel, Oriental Bluebird, was deflagged following a ruling by Panamian Authorities, which is expected to greatly impact the whaling fleet's capacity to transport whale meat back to Japan. The maximum fine of 10,000 Balboas (US$10,000) was imposed on the owners of the ship, Hiyo Shipping Co. Ltd, in Japan who on October 8th removed its Panamanian registration and flag.

"The Oriental Bluebird has now become an international pariah vessel, and its owners will be urgently looking for a new flag State which will condone its breaches of environmental treaties. It would make a mockery of international law if Japan continued to rely on the services of this vessel," said Sara Holden, Greenpeace International Whales Campaign coordinator. "We are delighted that Panama has found the vessel guilty. Japan must now do the same, not just by mothballing the Oriental Bluebird, but by retiring the entire whaling fleet. The international community has a responsibility to hold Japan to this."

According to Greenpeace, Japan has ratified an international treaty (FAO Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas) which seeks to end the practice of 're-flagging' vessels in order to circumvent international environmental law. The treaty bars Japan from authorising a ship to participate in the exploitation of marine living resources for at least three years, if that ship has changed its flag after being found in breach of international conservation measures.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/images/0616-03.jpg

The Japanese government has this year added an extra 800 million yen (US$8 million) for a coastguard ship to act as so-called "protection" for the fleet. Sea Shepherd found the Japanese whaling fleet less than a week after leaving Hobart, Tasmania.

Commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean is an illegal activity with Japan engaging in commercial whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary under the guise of scientific research provisions of the International Whaling Commission. Whaling has also been determined as illegal by an Australian Federal Court.

Sources:
Photo: Eric Cheng / Sea Shepherd

Sea Shepherd News December 26, 2008 - Sea Shepherd Clashes With Whaling Fleet in Australian Waters
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-081226-1.html

Press Release: The Institute Of Cetacean Research, Scoop Independent News, December 27, 2008 - Sea Shepherd Attacks Whale Research Vessel
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0812/S00552.htm

Greenpeace News, October 28, 2008 - - Japanese whaling ship outlawed
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/japanese-whaling-ship-outlawed281008
http://sydney.indymedia.org.au

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/09/04/irwinfamily_wideweb__470x379,0.jpg

Stephen Robert Irwin (22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006), known simply as Steve Irwin and nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an iconic Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. He achieved world-wide fame from the television program The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series co-hosted with his wife Terri Irwin. Together, they also co-owned and operated Australia Zoo, founded by his parents in Beerwah, Queensland. He died in 2006 after his chest was fatally pierced by a stingray barb whilst filming in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship MV Steve Irwin was named in his honour, christened by his wife Terri, who said "If Steve were alive, he'd be aboard with them!"

http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/pixel_vision/images/steveirwin.jpg

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a non-profit registered tax-exempt organization in the United States and a registered Stichting (foundation) in the Netherlands. It is based in Friday Harbor, Washington, USA and in Melbourne, Australia for its Southern Hemisphere operations. Members call themselves eco-pirates, undertaking campaigns that the society says are guided by the United Nations World Charter for Nature (1982) and other statutory laws protecting marine species and environments. It operates a fleet of three vessels it calls "Neptune's Navy": the RV Farley Mowat, the MV Steve Irwin, and the RV Sirenian, as well as several smaller boats.

The society was founded in 1977 by Paul Watson, an early member of Greenpeace, after a dispute with the organization over the philosophy of "bearing witness" to the killing of whales. In contrast to Greenpeace, which avoids damage to or physically interfering with whaling ships at sea, Sea Shepherd engages in "direct action" which involves disabling and otherwise physically interfering with the operations of whaling vessels.

Sea Shepherd engages in conventional protests and direct actions to protect such marine wildlife as seals, dolphins and whales. Direct actions have included scuttling commercial fishing vessels while in harbor, disabling and "stink bombing" of vessels in harbor and at sea, non-violent but extralegal boarding of whaling vessels while at sea, and seizure and destruction of drift nets at sea. Sea Shepherd has also conducted an intense media campaign against Japanese high-seas whaling and the Canadian sealing industry in particular. No reports of deaths during Sea Shepherd actions have been reported, though several injuries or claims of injuries have been reported. The most recent injury report was made by two Japanese crewmen who claim being splashed with a foul-smelling butyric acid stink bomb during Sea Shepherd's February 2007 action in the Ross Sea. The Sea Shepherds admitted to throwing six one-litre bottles of butyric acid onto the deck of the Nisshin Maru.

http://www.treehugger.com/paul%20watson.jpg

Sea Shepherd bases its actions on enforcement of international maritime law under the United Nations World Charter for Nature; however, the organization has no official mandate or authorization to enforce any legislation. Sea Shepherd was deprived of its status as an International Whaling Commission observer after sinking Icelandic vessels in 1986. In 1994, IWC Secretary Ray Gambell stated "the IWC and all its members ardently condemn Sea Shepherd's acts of terrorism." In 2006 the outgoing Vice Chair of the IWC, Horst Kleinschmidt, joined the Board of Sea Shepherd as an advisor. Sea Shepherd is supported by private and corporate donations and operated by volunteers and paid staff, including Watson's current wife. Critics refer to the organization as "pirate[s]" and "terrorist[s]", and consider Sea Shepherd's harassment of targeted fishing and resource-extraction operations to be outside the law. However, Sea Shepherd believes they have a good understanding of the law and operate openly in the UK (where Sea Shepherd UK has charity status) and other countries.

Until recently, countries such as Australia have hesitated to pressure Japan to stop whaling because of concerns about harming trade relations. Sea Shepherd supporters claim that small countries in the IWC that support whaling have been bought by Japanese development aid. Japan is behind only the US as an aid donor. However, the former Australian environment minister, Ian Campbell, stated that the activities of Sea Shepherd "puts the cause of conservation backwards" and urged the organisation to "comply with the law of the sea and not do anything to put at risk other vessels on the high seas and therefore human life". Despite this, Ian Campbell joined the Sea Shepherd advisory board upon retiring from politics.


A wildlife advocate during an education session on board RV Farley Mowat.

Paul Watson, the founder of the group, was arrested in 1993 in Canada on charges stemming from actions against Cuban and Spanish fishing boats off the coast of Newfoundland; but he was found not guilty through relying on Canadian ratification of the UN Charter for Nature (1982). In 1997, he was convicted in absentia in Norway on charges of sinking a Norwegian whaling ship, and spent 80 days in jail in the Netherlands, but he was not extradited to face new charges related to the encounter with the Norwegian Coast Guard vessel Andenes in 1994. Costa Rica filed attempted murder charges against Watson for an incident after he caught a Costa Rican fishing boat poaching, but charges were dropped after prosecutors were shown a film of the incident that was shot by a team making a documentary of Sea Shepherd.

Another Animal rights activist, Rod Coronado, who has also had numerous legal problems stemming from his activism, got his start in activism with Sea Shepherd, participating in one of its best-known and most controversial actions, the scuttling of two ships from Iceland's whaling fleet while in port in 1986.

As a result of such activities, several nations, including Japan, have pressed the United States to declare Sea Shepherd a terrorist organization.


Operation Migaloo


MV Steve Irwin

The recent 2007-08 Antarctic campaign was named Operation Migaloo, after the only known albino humpback in the world and is the focus of the weekly Animal Planet reality television series Whale Wars, which premiered on American TV on November 7, 2008.

On January 15, 2008, after attempting to entangle the whaling vessel's propeller and throwing containers of butyric acid onto the decks, two Sea Shepherd members Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane from the Sea Shepherd vessel MV Steve Irwin boarded the Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru No. 2 while both were underway in the High Seas of the Antarctic Ocean, by using a Zodiac inflatable boat. A "hostage" situation would result after MV Steve Irwin first mate Peter Brown turned the ship around and left forcing the Japanese crew to hold the Sea Shepherd activists until they could be handed over to Australian authorities. The crew of the Yushin Maru No. 2 detained the two men for illegal boarding and vandalism. The pair were initially tied to the railings, and then tied to the Satellite transmitter mast for several minutes. The ICR initially denied these reports although Sea Shepherd later released photographs they claimed showed the point where Potts and Lane were tied to the Satellite transmitter mast.

Sea Shepherd stated that the pair were attempting to deliver a letter of protest, after many hours during which the Japanese vessels did not acknowledge any radio contact, with the news that the Japanese whale hunt in Australia's Antarctic waters and Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary had earlier in the day been ruled illegal by the Australian Federal Court. The Japanese stated that it was the Sea Shepherd vessel who refused the radio contact, and the response from the foreign minister of Japan Nobutaka Machimura was that "The arctic territory is not at all internationally recognized. This sentence by the Australian court is based on a wrong assumption." Since both Sea Shepherd and Japan blamed each other for not responding to the radio contact, the two men were finally released from the Japanese ship 17 January, and were handed over to the Australian customs vessel MV Oceanic Viking. The Australian government decided to release them the same day without criminal charges because they "apparently had no intention to commit malicious crimes, such as robbery."

http://www.gerasimon.com.au/images/Guardian%20angels.jpg

On March 3, 2008 Sea Shepherd members threw bottles of butyric acid and packages of white powder onto the Japanese vessel Nisshin Maru. Three on board were allegedly injured, with one reporting acid in his eyes, according to a report in the Yomiuri Shimbun.. Paul Watson rejected the claims of injury "We filmed and photographed the entire thing. Not a single thing landed anywhere near their crew." and said that only bottles of butyric acid and a slippery powder were thrown by hand onto the whaling ship. The Japanese deputy foreign minister Itsunori Onodera summoned the ambassadors of the Netherlands and Australia and requested to take "immediate and appropriate actions". The Australian ambassador expressed his "sincere regret" to the incident. He also referred to the statement from the Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith who condemned any kind of violence against the Japanese crew members.

Four days later on March 17, 2008 crew from the Steve Irwin again threw bottles containing butyric acid onto the decks of the Nisshin Maru. The Japan Coast Guard, reportedly armed with sidearms and rifles, responded by throwing flash grenades at the crew of the Steve Irwin, with claims by Sea Shepherd of one crew being slightly injured directly from an explosion. Paul Watson was allegedly hit by a bullet which lodged in his ballistic vest that he was wearing. David Page, the ship's doctor onboard the Steve Irwin, was filmed by Sea Shepherd crew prying a bullet from Watsons's Kevlar vest, and said "You have been hit by a bullet". The Japanese denied the story of Watson and the president of the Japanese Whaling Association (to which the Japanese vessel belongs) Keiichi Nakajima released a press comment. "Paul Watson is lying and fabricating the story."

According to the Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Japan advised the Australian Embassy in Tokyo that a crew member on board the Japanese whaling vessel fired warning shots, but this was later retracted in an update press release.

The International Whaling Commission issued a statement on March 8, 2008 that "called upon the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to refrain from dangerous actions that jeopardise safety at sea, and on vessels and crews concerned to exercise restraint." The statement also reiterated earlier IWC resolutions from May and July of 2007 not specifically directed at Sea Shepherd that read in part, "The commission and its contracting governments do not condone and in fact condemn any actions that are a risk to human life and property in relation to the activities of vessels at sea."

On September 17th, 2008, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has announced that the Interpol has put three Sea Shepherd members on an international wanted list on suspicion of interfering with Japan’s whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean in February 12th, 2007.

Canadian Seal Hunt

On March 29, 2008 the M/V Farley Mowat and a Canadian Coast Guard ship collided while the M/V Farley Mowat was observing the Canadian seal hunts. This incident led to the arrest of the captain and first officer of the ship on April 12, 2008.

On April 12, 2008, during the 2008 Canadian commercial seal hunt, the M/V Farley Mowat was raided by Canadian coast guard vessels after the ship was said to have encroached on seal hunters off the coast of Newfoundland. During the raid, the captain and first officer were arrested and are awaiting charges. The location of the boat at the time of the seizure is controversial. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society claims the boat was seized illegally in international waters. The Canadian Fisheries minister claims that the boat was seized in Canadian waters, but also that the Fisheries Act gave him authority to order the boarding outside Canada's territorial waters zone of 12 nautical miles.

The captain and first officer made a court appearance on May 1, 2008. On July 2 2008, they entered a plea of not guilty to coming too close to sealers. Trial dates have not been set.

2009

Operation Musashi

The current 2008-2009 Antarctic campaign is named Operation Musashi after the 17th-century Japanese strategist Miyamoto Musashi. On December 4th, 2008, actress Daryl Hannah joined Sea Shepherd's crew aboard the Steve Irwin to take part in this season's operation.

http://members.cox.net/renegade_sith2/miscjunk/steve-irwin-feed-croc-baby.jpg



Monday, December 22, 2008

Hich resolution military photos - not classified

USA

http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/080820-F-5957S-987.jpg

An AC-130U gunship jettisons flares Aug. 20 over an area near Hurlburt Field, Florida.
The flares are a countermeasure for heat-seeking missiles that may be fired at the aircraft during real world (war-crime bloodbaths in foreign countries) missions.

The aircraft is from the 4th Special Operations Squadron. (undercover covert operation massacre of USA illegally interfering with other sovereign countries)

(U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Julianne Showalter

NIKON CORPORATION·NIKON D200 Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows·2008:08:28 16:05:40

original high-res http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/080820-F-5957S-987.jpg


General Characteristics
Primary Function: Close air support, air interdiction and force protection
Builder: Lockheed/Boeing Corp.
Power Plant: Four Allison T56-A-15 turboprop engines
Thrust: 4,910 shaft horsepower each engine
Length: 97 feet, 9 inches (29.8 meters)
Height: 38 feet, 6 inches (11.7 meters)
Wingspan: 132 feet, 7 inches (40.4 meters)
Speed: 300 mph (Mach .4) (at sea level)
Range: Approximately 1,300 nautical miles; unlimited with air refueling.
Ceiling: 25,000 feet (7,576 meters
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 155,000 pounds (69,750 kilograms)
Armament: AC-130H/U: 40mm cannon and 105mm cannon; AC-130U: 25mm gun
Crew: AC-130U - Five officers (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, fire control officer, electronic warfare officer) and eight enlisted (flight engineer, TV operator, infrared detection set operator, loadmaster, four aerial gunners)
Deployment Date: AC-130H, 1972; AC-130U, 1995
Unit Cost: AC-130H, $132.4 million; AC-130U, $190 million (fiscal 2001 constant dollars)


AC-130U's call sign is "Spooky. " The U-model is the third generation of C-130 gunships. All gunships evolved from the first operational gunship, the AC-47


RUSSIA

http://www.defencetalk.com/pictures/data/3134/IMG_1430.JPG



original high-resolution image: http://www.defencetalk.com/pictures/data/3134/IMG_1430.JPG

The Admiral Chabanenko large anti-submarine ship from the Russian naval force operating in the Atlantic Ocean

January 2008: The Russian task force, led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and also comprising the Udaloy-Class destroyer Admiral Levchenko, has been joined by the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva guided missile cruiser, in the current maneuvers.They are training in joint navigation and maneuvering, exchange of helicopters and cargo, and communications .. Lesorub (Woodcutter) ASW defense data link combat direction Udaloy class Slava class.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Gladio Ergenekon -- STATE TERROR HISTORY


Felice Casson


Gladio prosecutor Casson: Parliamentary commission with special powers a must

"Towards the end of the investigation, I received a letter. It said: 'You have come to the door of power. If you try to enter through that door, we do not know what may happen.'

I pushed that door ajar and saw what was inside," Felice Casson says. Thus the famous Italian prosecutor first uncovered the illegal armed network, Gladio.

He stresses that a prosecutor or a judge cannot enter and go it alone. Having served as an example for many prosecutors in other European countries with his historic investigation in Italy, Casson asserts that powerful political support is a must for the success of any fight against illegal networks such as Gladio or Ergenekon. "A parliamentary commission equipped with special powers should be set up. Prosecutors can go up to a point. But this commission can go wherever it wishes if the government is determined," he says.

The prosecutor is now a member of the Italian Senate, but without the support of then-Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, he could not have overcome all the difficulties he faced during the Gladio investigation, including vociferous opposition from the president. In his office in the Senate in Rome, the Italian politician spoke to Today's Zaman about his experiences and the difficulties in his quest to fight Gladio.

For the prosecutor, networks such as Gladio and Ergenekon are only pawns. There are many other illegal networks apart from Gladio in Italy. There is a "power" above that manages all of them, and nobody knows much about this power. Depending on circumstances that change with time, some organizations may be used and wound up, but the "power at the top" continues to assert itself using different means. The prosecutor was even able to jail some generals at the end of the investigation, but wasn't able to touch the whole of the network.

Parliamentary commission with special powers necessary

"For the success of any fight against illegal networks such as Gladio or Ergenekon, prosecutors must be given political support. Government resolve is a decisive factor. When I discovered the first documents which made reference to Gladio, I went to visit the prime minister at the time, Andreotti, and said: 'I have found these documents. Will you help me get access to other evidence so I can proceed with the investigation?' The prime minister said yes, but others, such as the president, said no. He confronted me, saying that Gladio was an organization established with the cooperation of our American friends against Russia. He strongly and openly attacked me. At this point, the political will of the government helped me a lot. The political issue is the primary one.

"First of all, an investigation should be conducted to reveal the actions and members of the network. But, to go further, there should a parliamentary commission like the Italian Commissione Stragi (Bloodshed Committee). An investigative commission equipped with the power and authority of prosecutors could be established. Such a commission is necessary when prosecutors experience difficulties in ascertaining the truth or when members of the Mafia, terrorists or secret services are involved. The commission we set up with extensive powers and authorities in Italy carried out important investigations into the Propaganda Due (P2) Masonic Lodge -- involved in illegal operations throughout Italy including nationwide bribery scandals -- and the Bologna massacre and provided us with important information.

"We worked together and in parallel with each other. Setting up a parliamentary commission with special powers is considerably important in the fight against illegal organizations. If there is political support, a parliamentary commission can conduct an in-depth investigation. But if the government does not know what it should do, or if there is no political support, this is very difficult to do."

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/04xDeRpbd40pb/610x.jpg
Marriott Islamabad 2008 (US military bomb, no truck bomb would leave such a crater)

President opposed it

"Gladio was an issue that divided Italian society. There were big disagreements between Prime Minister Andreotti and President Francesco Cossiga, who were both from the same party, the Christian Democrats. The prime minister ensured that I could enter the secret service archives. The investigation sparked arguments in the government and within political parties. Some government ministers gave their support while others opposed it. The president had been involved with the organization since the 1960s. The prime minister supported the Gladio investigation, but Cossiga tried to prevent it. Eventually, the Italian Supreme Council of the Judiciary stepped in against the inventions. The Communists and Socialists backed the investigation. Similarly, media organizations were split over the issue. In general, right-wing papers defended Gladio as an organization, a legacy of the past, established to protect Italy from communists. However, we showed that it was used to control politics, trade unions and opposition political parties.

"During the investigation, the biggest difficulty for me was to identify the international links to Gladio. For a prosecutor, it is considerably difficult to obtain information about these connections. It had contacts with the intelligence agencies of NATO member countries and many other countries. It even had contacts in Turkey. Cooperative military training was held with the participation of Gladio members from different countries.

"I could not investigate its reach into other countries. I demanded this, but it was not possible. Doors were shut tight. I requested help from the Italian government and one of our intelligence organizations, but they said this was not possible because these were secret documents. However, the documents I found in the archives of the Italian military services were more than enough for our investigation concerning Italy. But these were not sufficient for us to look outside Italy."

Gladio investigation barred with time limit

"Gladio was a network established by NATO and the intelligence agencies of some countries. Officially, the Italian government knew nothing about it. There were presidents, prime ministers and defense ministers who had heard nothing about Gladio. The intelligence chiefs would select the politicians who would be briefed about it. Until I launched an investigation, the Italian parliament, too, knew nothing. It was established to fight against communism, but it was used against opponents and rivals inside.

http://www.timhowells.com/Politics/HOGUTTCU/Images/TrainStationBologna_bombing.jpg
1980 Bologna Train station bomb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_massacre

"The investigation could identify the people involved in Gladio back to 1972. Some of them had died, but some were alive. I discovered everyone who was responsible for the Peteano massacre in 1972: three terrorists, a gendarmerie general, a colonel, a marshal, intelligence and police chiefs and members of the judiciary. All of them were found guilty and punished; however, the court did not put the organization itself on trial, although it agreed that Gladio had been involved. In the end, only those who were involved in the acts were punished, but not the organization. Moreover, we could identify only 622 'gladiators.' But the real number is much higher. The rest went into hiding."

Did it completely collapse?

"Until the investigation, Gladio was an active organization. Then, it is said that it was uprooted thanks to Andreotti's measures. But I don't think it was fully destroyed. It may be operating with a different structure.


http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05Di7oQ18R8sF/610x.jpg
Marriott Islamabad 2008 (US military bomb, no truck bomb would leave such a crater)

"Gladio was not the only illegal underground organization in Italy. There was also the Avanguardia Nazionale (National Vanguard) and the P2 Masonic Lodge and many other networks which were working parallel to Gladio. Gladio was not the supreme organization that was controlling all of them. It was only one of them. There is an entity above them that manages all of them. But people in the organizations who are towards the bottom know nothing about it. They have no idea about the high-level connections.

"What is important is to properly understand the targets. What does Ergenekon want? What is the purpose? Gladio was only a part of a greater whole. The strategy of creating tension was the overarching aim. Gladio was only a tool to achieve this goal. Strategy is a different thing. It is formulated by the top chiefs. The idea in Italy, and internationally, was to create tension and maintain a hold on power. The strategy changed over time. In the 1960s, there were military coup attempts. Then, the international situation changed, and in the late 1970s, their strategy started to change. Violent military coup attempts were abandoned. Instead, they tried to take control of state organs, for instance, by using the P2 Masonic Lodge. They tried to infiltrate public institutions in a much more dangerous manner. There was no violence, but this time, many members of the organization were able to penetrate deep into the state. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the political environment changed completely. There was no need to maintain these secret organizations for the benefit of Italy. Their enemies changed. Similarly, they had to change their strategy, and new ideas were formulated. We were able to eliminate Gladio, but there must be other networks.
http://www.truthdig.com/images/reportuploads/oklahomacity_350.jpg

"As a result of this investigation, I am convinced that economic and financial powers are more important than political ones. We do not know the number one who controls these clandestine networks. We should look into economic and financial powers. It is not easy to say much about it. Perhaps, this is not what a prosecutor can talk about. If there is an offense, it can be investigated as a criminal case.

"This is a problem seen in all big cooperative efforts in the world, such as the West working with the East. It goes beyond borders. A prosecutor cannot extend his investigation there. There is a power at the top, and it has its interests. We still discuss Gladio in Italy, but it is hard to come to a conclusion."

'I saw the power at the top'

"I saw the power at the top controlling everything. Towards the end of the investigation, I received a letter. It said: 'You have come to the door of power. If you try to enter through that door, we do not know what may happen.' Even if we could see something, this would only represent part of the whole. This power is much greater. I pushed that door ajar and saw what was inside. But I did not have time to go to the end. There was a power behind that door. But you cannot see the people who individually represent it. I don't think a prosecutor or a judge can enter through that door because they need evidence or proof of acts or offenses. But offenses can be tools. It is difficult for a judge to have access to what is behind that door because he has to act in reliance with concrete evidence at all times. Things are complicated inside. Perhaps a parliamentary commission may be useful in order to understand the goal and phenomena."

What changed in Italy after the Gladio investigation?

"At least two important things. Firstly, we were able to identify the people who were behind the massacres and criminal activity. Secondly, we were able to eliminate an illegal network that was a threat to democratic society. Last year, we were able to reform our intelligence service, which was operating under a law drafted 30 years ago. We completely overhauled the provisions concerning state secrets and cooperation with illegal or terrorist organizations. Previously, state secrets could almost never be disclosed. Now, we have introduced a democratic control mechanism for intelligence organizations. Parliament obtained the right to control them through a commission on state secrets and intelligence organizations."

http://www.thewe.cc/thewei/_/images11/us_terror_state_may_2007/baghdad.jpe

Concentrate on Ergenekon's purpose

"I am monitoring developments in the Ergenekon investigation. It seems it is a bit different from Gladio in its organization. I think what the hardest part for Turkey will be is learning about everything that happened in the past. A single commission will not be sufficient to find this out. The important thing is to understand what its purpose is. What was Ergenekon after? What was the purpose? The source of the problem must be discovered. When I was investigating the Italian secret service archives, I came across contacts in Turkey as well.

"Turkey has its own unique situation. The political, economic and cultural structure of Italy is simpler. Turkey has much more complicated problems. It has an issue with nationalism. There is also an issue with religion. We have the pope, but this is a completely different thing. Turkey is a crossroads. It is important for Europe and the Middle East, not only today, but it was in the past as well."

12 November 2008, Wednesday

ALI. I.HSAN AYDIN ROME
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=158432

The Bologna massacre (Italian: Strage di Bologna) was a terrorist bombing at the Central Station of Bologna, Italy on the morning of August 2, 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. Blame for the attacks was placed on the neo-fascist terrorist organization Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari, while two — and one former — members of the Italian military intelligence agency (SISMI) and Licio Gelli were charged with investigative diversion.

2 August is designated in Italy as a memorial day for all terrorist massacres. The municipality of Bologna together with the Associazione tra i famigliari delle vittime della strage alla stazione di Bologna del 2 agosto 1980 organize every year an international composing competition that ends with a concert in the town's main square, Piazza Maggiore.


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http://www.stopviolence.com/images/9-11/madrid-train.jpg

MADRID bombing:
http://www.youtube.com/v/4gy8yXu8u8Q&hl=es&fs=1

After years of police and prosecutors enquiries, after a trial lasting 4 months and a 700 pages sentence, we still do not know who planned, organized and carried out the Madrid terrorist attacks.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/10/31/world/01spain.600.jpg


Who, when, how and why were the 11-M attacks planned?

===============================

not to speak of 9/11!!

No steel frame buildings had ever before in history collapsed either from fires or planes hitting them. They are designed to withstand those hazards. On 9/11 three of them fell, and fell perfectly straight down. Why do you think demolition experts spend weeks planting charges and timing the explosions with millisecond precision? To make sure the buildings implode and fall straight down, just as the three WTC towers did. That perfection does not happen by accident. Further, the timing of the falls are indicative of linear controlled demolitions, not accelerating natural gravitational collapse.

The hole in the side of the Pentagon is far too small for Boeing 757 flight 77 to pass through. The wingspan is 124 feet with a fuselage diameter of 13 feet. It is 44 feet from ground to the top of the tail. There was almost no debris, no bodies, no blood, no body parts, no baggage, no wreckage typical of a 757 plane crash, and of course no sheared off wings.

There were all manner of war games in progress on 9/11 some simulating a 9/11 style attack. This deflected most of the airforce out west. It further confused air traffic controllers who had to deal with insertions (fake planes for the war games on their radars). No body was really sure if the attacks were real or part of the game. No cave-dwelling terrorists could have arranged so convenient a distraction. The Pentagon publicly admitted this many times, including when Representative Cynthia McKinney grilled Donald Rumsfeld on C-Span 2005-03-24. transcript

LISTEN/WATCH:
The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions
David Ray Griffin in University of Wisconsin in Madison. Includes Q&A.



Author Bio: David Ray Griffin is professor emeritus at the Claremont School of Theology, where he taught for over 30 years (retiring in 2004). He has authored or edited over two dozen books, including "God and Religion in the Postmodern World," "Religion and Scientific Naturalism," and "The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11."

Bush used 9/11 as a pretext to invade Afghanistan, even though Saudis ostensibly committed the deed. He then installed ex-Unocal men to run the country. They built a pipeline for Unocal and raised trillions by restarting the opium trade.
Bush used 9/11 as a pretext to invade Iraq even though he later admitted the two had no connection.
Bush used 9/11 as a pretext for the Patriot Act to nullify important constitutional rights such as habeas corpus, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

======================

Former Italian President and the man who revealed the existence of Operation Gladio Francesco Cossiga has gone public on 9/11, telling Italy's most respected newspaper that the attacks were run by the CIA and Mossad and that this was common knowledge amongst global intelligence agencies.

Cossiga was elected President of the Italian Senate in July 1983 before winning a landslide 1985 election to become President of the country in 1985.

Cossiga gained respect from opposition parties as one of a rare breed - an honest politician - and led the country for seven years until April 1992.

Cossiga's tendency to be outspoken upset the Italian political establishment and he was forced to resign after revealing the existence of, and his part in setting up, Operation Gladio - a rogue intelligence network under NATO auspices that carried out bombings across Europe in the 60's, 70's and 80's.



Gladio's specialty was to carry out what they coined "false flag operations," terror attacks that were blamed on their domestic and geopolitical opposition.

Cossiga's revelations contributed to an Italian parliamentary investigation of Gladio in 2000, during which evidence was unearthed that the attacks were being overseen by the U.S. intelligence apparatus.

In March 2001, Gladio agent Vincenzo Vinciguerra stated, in sworn testimony, "You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple: to force ... the public to turn to the state to ask for greater security."

http://www.politicaldvds.co.uk/Images/operation%20gladio.jpg

Cossiga's new revelations appeared last week in Italy's oldest and most widely read newspaper, Corriere della Sera. Below appears a rough translation.

"[Bin Laden supposedly confessed] to the Qaeda September [attack] to the two towers in New York [claiming to be] the author of the attack of the 11, while all the [intelligence services] of America and Europe ... now know well that the disastrous attack has been planned and realized from the CIA American and the Mossad.... in order to put under accusation the Arabic Countries and in order to induce the western powers to take part ... in Iraq [and] Afghanistan."

Cossiga first expressed his doubts about 9/11 in 2001, and is quoted in Webster Tarpley's book as stating that "The mastermind of the attack must have been a "sophisticated mind, provided with ample means not only to recruit fanatic kamikazes, but also highly specialized personnel. I add one thing: it could not be accomplished without infiltrations in the radar and flight security personnel."

Coming from a widely respected former head of state, Cossiga's assertion that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job and that this is common knowledge amongst global intelligence agencies is highly unlikely to be mentioned by any establishment media outlets, because like the hundreds of other sober ex-government, military, air force professionals, allied to hundreds more professors and intellectuals - he can't be sidelined as a crackpot conspiracy theorist.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Projected ELECTION RESULTS







U.S. President
- Electoral College

winnerObama (D) - 338


McCain (R) - 141
270 votes needed for presidency
Popular vote - 45 states reporting
Candidates%Votes
McCain (R)47%49,250,464
winnerObama (D)51%53,480,548
Barr (I)0%415,082
Nader (I)1%531,362

U.S. Senate - 35 seats contested


winnerDemocrats - 17



Republicans - 14
legendSeats not up for election
Net change: None

U.S. House of Rep. - 435 seats contested

winnerDemocrats - 239


Republicans - 156


LIVE ELECTORAL MAP
Roll over states for live state results

*Maine and Nebraska each award two Electoral Votes to the overall statewide winner and one for the winner in each of their congressional districts.


Presidential Snapshot
Needed to Win: 270 | Electoral Votes Remaining: 41

McCAIN
Electoral Votes 159
47 : Vote %
50,025,914
Obama
Electoral Votes 338
Vote % : 52
54,664,907

Monday, November 03, 2008

Palin makes Bush look like Chomsky

Palin makes Bush look like Chomsky

Joseph Froemming
Issue date: 11/3/08 Section: Opinions

Tuesday will be a day that will go down in history, not because the new Dido album will be released, but because the American people will make a choice as to who will lead our nation for the next four years.

It will also be the day that will remind George W. Bush that he will be let go from his current job. We the people can say it isn't anything personal because it is law, but frankly we are sick of this slacker and can not wait for him to get the hell out of Dodge.

Bush is getting the boot. It is about time. This guy has somehow managed to turn our great nation into a nightmarish hellhole of poverty, war and paranoia. He will not be missed by eight-out-of-ten Americans.

My fear is that if McCain wins, his running mate will fill the gap Bush leaves behind as the deer-in-the-headlights-bomb-first-and-never-ask-questions-lunatic-in-the-executive branch. Sarah Palin makes Bush look like Noam Chomsky.

If McCain loses, which might happen, his downfall will be Palin. Her complete lack of understanding of how our government works is frightening. No wonder McCain smiles nervously when she is interviewed. He is sitting next to someone who is destroying his campaign.

People were disturbed by McCain's aimless wandering during the town-hall debate with Obama. He could not keep his temper from flaring up. His smile is creepy. His platform is change, yet it is basically the disastrous "Stay the Course" used by Bush in '04.

What happened to the John McCain of eight-years ago? That one had a sense of humor and refused to pander to the extreme fringes of the right wing. Now he is like a bad DJ remix of his former self made by DJ Karl Rove.

Sure, Obama is not perfect either, but at least he doesn't act like a hate-fueled monster screaming at the media for what he believes is an open bias against him. I haven't seen Obama complain about the media portraying him as an Arab terrorist in a vicious tone like McCain.

This is an important election. Both parties broke ground with their tickets. Either way, whoever wins will represent an unprecedented presidency.

Yet, people may expect change too soon for the country. Just because Bush will be out doesn't mean that things will get better overnight. We have a damaged economy, two wars going on in the Middle East and unemployment is on the rise.

There is a lot of crap to clean up with the country. These are strange times and I feel sorry for whoever wins because, unlike George W. Bush, they will be handed a nation that is at war and broke.

This is not a good time to be president. Expectations are high since Bush helped bring us so low. People expect results and change and those are not easy things to get done in Washington. We the people are patient, but not that patient. I hear people talking about immediate changes, and that just won't happen.

So don't get your hopes up. Four years from now we will probably still be in Iraq, the economy will get worse before it gets better and we will need to sacrifice some conveniences to help get us back on track, like during WWII.

So on Tuesday get out and vote. If you don't like the candidates, write someone in. Elections are the only time we have to shape our government. Vote wisely.

St. Cloud area

Questions over Robin Cook's death

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2003/03/18/2bell.jpg

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Questions over Robin Cook's death

Another David Kelly? Some people online are asking questions.

While googling around the other day, one link led to another until a blog in particular caught my attention. Though I'm a firm believer that shit happens and that, if one wants, practically everything can be dressed up and interpreted as conspiracy (sometimes to mental extremes), I'm also aware that there are several grey areas in the way our governments act. This blog paid some attention to the strange death of Dr David Kelly and the murky world behind the Iraq war and I couldn't help but think that aspects of Robin Cook's death don't appear to fully add up.

I know it's hardly topical but you may want to have a look.

According to this entry ("Lingering questions about Robin Cook's death") available on a blog called 'Shaphan', there was some ambiguity regarding Cook's official cause of death (head injuries or heart disease?). Also, it may mean nothing, but as the Scottish mountain of Ben Stack (where Cook died while on a walking holiday) is extremely isolated, for a walker (or walkers - again, there seem to be contrasting versions) to be at hand and phone for help was quite a singular coincidence. More, in spite of earlier reports suggesting the opposite, it is was later established that both Cook and his wife were indeed carrying a mobile phone themselves (it was 2005, after all).

Finally, "Robin Cook chose an extremely remote place to die, far away from London, and the story was over before the press could send anyone to cover it". I didn't know, for instance, that Ben Stack is property of the Duke of Westminster, someone who devoted most of his life to the British Army and has always been regarded as a top MoD insider.

Similarly to the David Kelly affair, in spite of the high profile nature of the deceased, the police declared the case closed straightaway "as this would appear to be a medical matter".

In case you're scratching your head about all this, Robin Cook, as many know, was possibly the fiercest critic of the Iraq invasion amongst Labour's senior politicians. As he'd been Foreign Minister throughout Tony Blair's first term in office (1997-2001), he obviously had first-hand knowledge of intelligence related to Iraq, WMDs and threats (real or imaginary) from abroad. This is why he was particularly aware that Blair was hitting a bum note with the botched intelligence that lead to the infamous 45-minute claim. In protest against the invasion of Iraq, Robin Cook resigned from the cabinet in 2003. Four weeks before his death, he'd caused a minor stir when he relied on his previous knowledge as Foreign Minister to write in The Guardian:

"Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians".
written by Stan Moss at 1:09 PM

http://cagle.com/news/StemCellResearch05/images/lane.gif

9 comments:

Le Mans said...

Pleased to see someone's writing about it. I remember not being fully convinced when it happened back in 2005. When intelligence matters and high-level secrecy are at stake nothing should be ruled out.
5:07 PM

Prestonshire said...

The Blair government? I wouldn't put anything past them. If they could lie shamelessly about carpet bombing and invading a country and signing ludicrously expensive contracts for reconstruction, then they can do anything.
7:40 PM

Anonymous said...

oh no! Another paranoid lot. People just die, and that includes politicians and celebrities alike, such as Marilyn Monroe, JFK and Elvis. It doesn't have to be a conspiracy. Accidents do happen and the intelligence services dont employ half of the population. Let Cook and Kelly rest in peace.

PS Lotsof folk go on trekking up Ben Stick -its not as unusual as you make it sound.
7:51 PM

Stan Moss said...

anonymous,

I started the article by carefully stating that accidents do happen and that I'm aware conspiracy theories often turn into mental stuff. I said exactly that.

I think people don't bother to read articles properly and just have knee-jerk fits of rage when they post comments!
7:58 PM

Anonymous said...

It was fishy. Dr Kelly docet.
9:44 PM

Andrew Simon said...

Whilst completely accepting that Robin Cook's death can easily be explained as being quite natural by simple medical reasoning, it's nevertheless true that he was the most senior critic of Mr Blair's claims about Saddam's WMD.

There's an interesting conjunction between Dr Kelly and Robin Cook contained in the evidence given by the BBC's Susan Watts to Lord Hutton at his inquiry:

Q. You were interviewing with him or talking to him because you were going to help preparation for an interview with Robin Cook. Did you discuss that at all?

A. Only briefly towards the end of the conversation. This was for an item I was putting together, a 4 minute item. I asked him what he would like to ask Robin Cook.

Q. What would he have liked to ask Robin Cook?

A. He just suggested that he should be asked why he was adamant in his position, Robin Cook's position.

Q. So adamant about his political position?

A. Yes, that there were no weapons to be found.

This kind of begs the question as to who it was who was actually briefing Robin Cook (and the FCO when he was there) about the so-called 'missing' WMD. You don't suppose that that could have been Dr Kelly himself by any chance do you? Or even that it was Robin Cook (whilst he was still in the Cabinet) who actually told Dr Kelly about Alastair Campbell and the 45 minute claim in the first place?
11:26 PM

Counting Crow said...

You may be interested in the following:

Norman Baker, Brighton Argus: "Nagging Doubts" over the death of Robin Cook. http://www.theargus.co.uk/display.var.1327811.0.0.php
12:11 AM

http://dcscience.net/election05/brookes-cartoon-times-270405.jpg

Anonymous said...

Interesting article. It does make you think that the case was closed before even opening it. You'd have thought they'd have used more caution...?
12:44 AM

thepatriot said...

What is it abt all those critics of the WMD claim that make them walk all the way to remote forests or mountains ?
8:35 AM

http://www.nndb.com/people/958/000047817/robin-cook-4.jpg

Robert Finlayson Cook (28 February 1946 – 6 August 2005), better known as Robin Cook, was a politician in the British Labour Party. He was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2001. He resigned from his post as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council on 17 March 2003 in protest against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At the time of his death he was president of the Foreign Policy Centre and a vice-president of the America All Party Parliamentary Group and the Global Security and Non-Proliferation All Party Parliamentary Group.

http://cagle.com/news/StemCellResearch05/images/beeler.gif


Norman Baker says lies have been told

Norman Baker says lies have been told

Murder theory that just won't go away

11:39am Friday 13th April 2007

The greatest British conspiracy theory of the modern age was unveiled this week. Lewes MP Norman Baker set out in detail for the first time why he believes the secret service murdered the Government scientist Dr David Kelly.

MILES GODFREY and KATYA MIRA report on a one-man crusade for the truth which has catapulted an unassuming Parliamentarian into the international spotlight.

  • It was the start of 2006 and the time was right to bring down the British Government.
  • In March last year Norman Baker, serial thorn in the side of the establishment and by his own admission "not the Prime Minister's favourite person", resigned his role as a frontbench MP for the Liberal Democrats.

It was a typically low-key announcement, timed to coincide with the anointment of the party's new leader Sir Menzies Campbell.

The time had come, the MP said, for a new man to take over.

http://www.nogw.com/images/sheeple.jpg

But to those who knew Norman Baker, the decision to resign was made for another reason.

It would allow him more time to do what he does best: investigate, challenge, push, probe - specifically into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly. He was about to embark on an amazing investigation into the murky world of secret service agents, national security and the death of the man who very nearly halted the start of the war in Iraq.

If he could prove conclusively that members of the Government had conspired to get rid of Dr Kelly, it would have been - and still could be - the biggest single scandal this country has ever known.

The official report into the death of Dr David Kelly concluded he committed suicide after a row between the BBC and the Government over the "sexed up" dossier on Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction thrust the normally private scientist into the glare of the limelight.

But Mr Baker didn't believe a word of it. He said at the time: "The public out there can smell a rat and they don't think it's finished business either."

The scientist's death was, the MP said, just too convenient, too riddled with inconsistencies and so unlike a man like Dr Kelly.

His year-long investigation culminated on Wednesday night at a meeting at which he proclaimed Dr Kelly had been murdered and set out his evidence.

Mr Baker told a packed community hall in Lewes: "I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that this could not be suicide.

"The medical evidence does not support it and David Kelly's state of mind and personality suggests otherwise.

It was not an accident so I am left with the conclusion that it is murder."

He told of how the world's leading WMD expert had spent the morning before his death sending "upbeat emails" and even booking himself a flight to Iraq from his rural home in Southmoor, near Oxford.

Mr Baker questioned the cause of death - a haemorrhage caused by cuts to the ulnar artery in the wrist.

He said such wounds were "matchstick thick" and hidden, difficult to get to, as well as rarely leading to death.

The knife said to have been used was a gardening pruner Dr Kelly had kept since childhood - an unlikely and blunt choice.

Paramedics have said he had lost little blood and was "incredibly unlikely" to have died from the wound they saw.

Police said 29 tablets of the painkiller Coproxamol were missing from his home but all that was found in Dr Kelly's stomach was the equivalent of one fifth of a tablet.

The MP told The Argus: "It has taken more than a year to investigate and it has been an incredible and fascinating journey which has taken a large number of twists and turns.

"I have met experts on weapons of mass destruction in Brussels and uncovered more evidence about the lies the Government told about weapons of mass destruction before the war."

Along the way Mr Baker has had personal run-ins with high-profile Government figures, not least Tony Blair.

He said: "I wouldn't say it has been easy, certainly the Foreign Office has done a lot to put obstacles in my way and other people have too. It has been hard work but at the same time it has been extremely worthwhile."

He has also been hugely encouraged by the public, who he claims can see Dr Kelly's death for what he says it was. Mr Baker said: "There is a world in Westminster and the rest of the world and I think most people in the public world can see that Dr Kelly was murdered.

"He was the world's foremost expert on weapons of mass destruction who could single-handedly destroy the Government's case for war so it was no wonder he was killed.

"It may have also been intended as a message to other people out there who speak to the press when the Government doesn't want you to.

"I was appalled at his death and at the Hutton Inquiry into it. It was a procedural disaster from start to finish and I felt compelled to look into it."

Mr Baker has signed a book deal to explain in greater detail his findings on Dr Kelly's death and he expects to publish it later this year.

But the MP insists he will continue to investigate.

He has nagging doubts about the official line taken over the recent Navy hostages taken in Iran and over the death of Robin Cook, the MP who resigned in protest at the Iraq war.



He said: "Robin Cook was on Ministry of Defence land, I believe, when he died and certainly I have doubts over what happened."

There are those, of course, who doubt Norman Baker's theories.

But for every person out there who does there are an equal number for whom the MP has become a beacon of truth in an increasingly murky world.



martin brighton, says...
11:44am Sat 14 Apr 07

Dr. David Kelly was not the first to have been targeted by nulabor, and will not be the last.
This nulabor government, as corrupt as it is, has a policy of inducing mental illness and suicide among those it has deemed to be a potential threat.
In effect, Dr. David Kelly, among others, was effectively killed because of what he knew about nulabor.
This sad saga, yet another in years of similar abuses by nulabor, demonstrates yet again that:
This nulabor government is corrupt. The corruption is absolute, lead from the top down, includes the government institutions, and is out of control. Being rotten to the core and from the core, everything it touches it taints. Having neither the ability nor inclination to sort itself, outside intervention is indicated.


Ron Lambert, Geordieland says...
3:51pm Sat 14 Apr 07

The B.B.C.'s whitewash of Dr. Kelly's death was almost as transparent as their 911 farce and you've got no right to infer that public opinion is in favour of the so-called official line.
Conspiracies are only theories if there are no facts and in Dr. Kelly's case there are plenty. There are hundreds of suppressed facts and real witnesses relating to 911 that were blatantly, no criminally ignored. So please stop trying to tell us that what we see is reality, haven't you heard of smoke and mirrors? It's what governments do when they don't want to be found out, such as in taking the country to war for reasons no sane person would agree to,
i.e. oil and power. I am only a humble, disabled bricklayer with lots of time on my hands, to read freepress on the internet, to look beyond the matrix of the controlled mainstream media, and guess what. I can see through the phoney spin of your masters, whom you prefer to lie down with. But the scales are rapidly falling from the eyes of the masses, like with the cold war and the 911 pretext for this phoney war on terror.
And people like Norman Baker, George Galloway and the late courageous Robin Cook
are the only one's with balls enough to rebuff ridicule by their bosses and peers to say
ENOUGH!.
Truth is like a little crack in a roof tile which lets in a trickle of rain-water, until it builds up in the felt and bursts through the ceiling, and it is building up in the populous my freind.
Go to New York and ask Joe Schmoe in the street if he thinks that the 911 commission was fairly conducted, and well over 50% will tell you that they know someone who heard, felt or saw dozens of explosions from the basements of the towers to the top, well before the collapses. If you think it's beyond a 'civilized' government to perpetrate terror against it's citizens, please google up 'The Northwoods document' where some inside Kennedy's admin. drew up a plan to sink ships, shoot down aircraft with make-believe passenger lists, and even kill patsies in Florida so that they could win public opinion in order to go to war with Cuba. Heck, it's like a script for 911 and this current bloodbath in Iraq, who like Afghanistan,
had nothing to do with 911. And you don't call the deaths of approx.1,000,000 civillians murder, not to mention the 500,000 Iraqi kids who died of starvation and no medicine through embargos after Gulf war 1? Boy you really need to swallow the red pill, or was it blue? Where's the evidence? you say, well there's an old latin saying, Cui Bono?...or who benefits? Iraq didn't benefit, nor Afghanistan, nor did the old C.I.A. agent
called Bin Laden who denied the gig, even though it would have rocketed his kudos.
Palestine, Syria and Iran didn't benefit too. Hmm, who did?
Bush, Blair, Cheney, especially Dick with his multi billion dollar, no tender Halliburton contracts.
Er..Larry Silverstein who took over the twin towers a year earlier and insured them for seven and a half billion and counting did o.k. The
unknown stock traders who made who knows what on put options on the decline of American Airlines, on the 9th. of Sept.and before. Everybody but the invaded got rich, and stayed alive. You want evidence pal? Try opening your eyes to the discrepancies, they far outweigh the official line. As to Norman Baker's book, I suspect it's more for reaching a brain-washed public than fiscal profit, but so what, plenty M.P.'s do books about their sordid lives and still get fat pay-offs, and pretendy jobs in the city for keeping their mouths shut. Wake up fool, unless you are..... already wide awake.


Stephen B Coulson, Canada says...
1:48am Sun 15 Apr 07

A government willing to lie its way into a war killing 650,000 people or thereabout so far certainly wouldn't balk at killing a few people who stood in their way either.
If people are suspicious about this government, it's really the governments own fault. Neither Tony Blair, nor president Dick Cheney and his glove puppet for that matter, have given much indication that they should be trusted on matters of fact.

http://www.nogw.com/images/fox_septic.jpg

Dianne C. Foster, USA says...
2:13am Sun 15 Apr 07

It may have been an allied foreign power, equally keen to be in Iraq, who killed him. I happened to have been in Ireland at the time of his disappearance. It seemed there was a note of skepticism when he first went missing, a tone of something like suspicion, and then his body was discovered. The absurd motives for suicide combined with the weak evidence for blood loss or drugs as having been the cause point to the sinister conclusion. But please think outside the box. There are others who wanted to be in Iraq, not just the British government, however corrupt. It's about huge amounts of control of the world's oil, at the most profitable well-head, with the complicity of the citizens of those invading states due to ill-founded fears of WMD. Don't forget, we had an incident with anthrax, which was traceable to an Army lab in the US, not to Saddam as it was hoped we would believe. To remove a few men who stand in the way is nothing for the professional killers who invaded a sovereign and unoffending (lately) Iraq with Shock and Awe. As an American, I have a blood spot in my eye which will not go away. Kelly's death must be understood for the murder it undoubtedly was. It is one of thousands, don't forget, and only the beginning. Keep a broad understanding of where the other allied nations are in this. To think that we, who once stood together against Hitler, in our finest hours, must live under tyranny is something we must scorn and fight against. Inevitably, an expensive instant and increasingly imaginary empire will cost us in blood, treasure and in our hard fought human rights. Those who brought us to it will steal from us until we stop them.


Veloceraptor, U.K. says...
9:35am Sun 15 Apr 07

Upon his resignation as BBC chairman Gavyn Davies commented on the irreconcilable contradictions between Hutton’s "bald conclusions" and the balance of evidence presented to the actual Inquiry.

Even BBC political editor Andrew Marr comments on Hutton's underlying assumptions and background, making him more likely to believe and trust certain social groups: "again and again, he comes down on the side of politicians and officials."

So who is Hutton, and what is in his background to come to these extraordinary conclusions? What has lead to the reports extraordinary absolution of Blair’s war lies and attack on journalistic freedom?

The 72 year old Baron Hutton of Bresagh, County of Down, North Ireland, is a classic representative of the British ruling establishment. A member of the Anglo-Irish elite, he was educated at Shewsbury all boys boarding school, and then Balliol, Oxford, before entering the exclusive club of the British Judiciary. Whilst British Judges are overwhelmingly conservative, upper class, white, male and biased, Hutton’s background is even more compromised.

http://www.flyingsnail.com/Dahbud/images/911HistorySig2.jpg

His name will be familiar to residents of the Six counties of Ulster. During the bloody thirty years war Hutton was an instrument of British state repression, starting in the late 1960’s as junior counsel to the Northern Ireland attorney general, and by 1988 rising to the top job of Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

Hutton spent his career as Judge and Jury in the notorious northern Ireland kangaroo ‘Diplock Courts’. These were special non-Jury courts, condemned by human rights advocates for their miscarriages of justice. He was hated for this role by the families of the many innocent Catholics wrongly convicted here.

Hutton distinguished himself after the Bloody Sunday massacre of civil rights protesters in 1972. He played a key role in the ensuing judicial cover-up called the Widgery Inquiry which absolved British troops of Murder. This miscarriage of justice is only now being investigated by the current Saville inquiry.

Then in 1978 he represented the British Government before the European Court of Human Rights, defending it against a ruling that it abused and maltreated detainees from the conflict.

However, he will be remembered in the rest of the UK for his role in the 1999 Pinochet affair. Another senior Judge, Lord Hoffman had contributed to the decision to arrest and extradite the notorious former dicator of Chile and mass murderer General Pinochet during his visit to Britain.

As a law lord, Hutton led the rightwing attack on Lord Hoffman, on the excuse that Hoffman’s links to the human rights group amnesty international invalidated Pinochet's arrest! Lord Hutton said "public confidence in the integrity of the administration of justice would be shaken" if Lord Hoffman’s ruling was not overturned.

More recently, Hutton was also involved in the ruling that David Shayler, the former MI5 agent, could not argue he was acting in the public interest by revealing secrets.

This history of intimate links with, and knowledge of Britains secret military intelligence operations meant he could be a trusted pair of hands when it came to the Kelly affair.


FedUpWithLies, Brighton says...
11:43am Sun 15 Apr 07

Thank goodness someone is going to expose this mendacious and corrupt government for what it is, and going to ensure they don't get away with such an appalling and self-preserving act as the murder of David Kelly.


bigmouth, manchester says...
4:58pm Sun 15 Apr 07

now that we know there were never any WMD's in iraq, kelly was right - the dossier was sexed up. why would he kill himself when he knew he was right all along and that he would eventually be vindicated? motive and blame lies with government and government only


Michael Smith, Germany says...
1:10pm Mon 16 Apr 07

The problem is today that ordinary persons have an almost impossible task in getting exposure for stories that prove what we have for a Government. I have been trying to get coverage for a story I have researched,involving the MoD(UK), which is all backed by documentary evidence, so it can't be denied. The media does nothing but run from the story.

http://www.theruralarmy.co.uk/rural_7.gif

Strategist, London says...
1:32am Tue 17 Apr 07

Argus readers should check out what the dissident former British Ambassador Craig Murray is saying about this on his site www.craigmurray.org.uk: "I think it most likely this was private by one of the US companies that were pushing the war on Iraq. I know some senior MI6 people privately think this, too."

This is an important contribution. It feels implausible that Blair would have ordered the murder (even in a "who will rid me of this turbulent weapons inspector" moment) - Blair & Campbell's No.10, constantly obsessed by how it was being reported, would have thought killing him in the midst of a total media furore way too risky to contemplate.

With the information I have seen to date I have for some time thought that the most plausible explanation of what the British security services were doing at the crime scene (standing down the local constabulary for however many hours and so on) was hurriedly finding out what had happened and removing evidence.

Can you imagine the scene in No 10 as the report came in that yes he was dead and that MI5 suspected an American agency had done it? They would be bricking it. A cover up would be of paramount importance. The idea of an inquiry announced quickly was a clever one – the govt that always resists inquiries into itself suddenly looked good at the time by announcing an inquiry quickly and appearing to come clean by releasing emails, for example – but all the time they knew that the inquiry would find nothing incriminating in No 10’s email accounts. Appointing Hutton – a man who could be relied on to give the right verdict at the end of the process without needing to be leaned on by the government – was clever, but the masterstroke was to say that the Inquiry superseded any need for a local coroner’s inquest – a local level process that would correspondingly be far more difficult to control. So, one way of understanding the Hutton Inquiry is to think of it as a means of distracting attention from the really damaging evidence (from the local medics etc) that this was no suicide.

I await “Stormin’ Norman” Baker’s book with great interest. I hope he has considered the possibility that it was neither suicide nor a British Govt-sponsored murder, but a third party sponsored murder obligingly covered up by the British secret services. The BBC's Conspiracy Files programme on 26 Feb, whilst airing ridiculous ideas, eg the Iraqi secret services did it (!), noticeably failed to give any time whatsoever to the possibility that the Americans had done it.

Finally, on a theme we must often return to, isn’t it funny that Norman Baker’s pronouncements last week, which one might have thought just slightly newsworthy, have been utterly blanked by the London media and are going totally unreported outside Sussex? Clearly the carrier pigeon hasn’t quite made it across the North Downs to Fleet Street yet!


Psynonymous, Sunderland says...
5:29pm Tue 17 Apr 07

Strategist above is on the right track, indeed a third party, try Mossad. Someone said ' cui bono ', who benefits? well oil is pretty much too obvious but not enough reason to go to all that bother, however security and middle east supremacy are crucial to Israel's existence and they have more leverage in the White House than all of the opposition put together. Just look at the level of threat the invaded countries were regarded to have been to and by Israel. Then look at the countries now in line for attack i.e. Syria, Iran and Lebanon. With those out of the way, who is left as a threat? no-one. As the twin towers came down, five men dressed as Arabs were seen on an apartment roof in Manhattan with a mounted video camera, high-fiving each other and cheering. When neighbours called the cops, who arrested them fleeing the city in a van containing detonaters and explosives, it was discovered that they were of Israeli origin and all ex - army. Some demolition experts, and others surveillance technicians. You can Google the interview of them on Israeli t.v., where they claimed that they weren't the one's the U.S. should be going after, but that they were only there to ' document the events.'

http://www.heady.co.uk/rm/labour_party_integrity.jpg

SAY WHAT ? How did they know there would be any events, and at the time and place where their camera was pointing? I am no Sherlock Holmes but is this not a bit odd? Especially as they and another hundred were arrested, failed polygraphs and were spirited away to whence they came. Now who could have that kind of power in Washington on America's darkest day? Soon after, we heard on the news that Israel is the worst offender in spying on uncle Sam. Like I said, I am no Sherlock Holmes.


Bella, London says...
11:49pm Tue 23 Oct 07

honest, upright and with true leadership qualities.I really don't believe that I have ever read such pith about TB. Dr Kelly murdered? Yes more than likely, in my humble opinion. But then there are those that would say |Another conspiracy theory" We're British it just wouldn't happen here! Ok & Churchill didn't let Coventry burn.


joe, Bristol says...
11:15pm Sat 5 Apr 08

Sad people who say things like ' the government would never do something that' live in a complete la la land of naivety and innocence. Get real. Things that have to be done get done.
I'm sure most of the public realise some very unsavoury things happen from time to time. For the good or less good of the country. To go around thinking that because the government wants to reduce road deaths or heart disease levels that they wouldn't bump off dangerous or leaky people then that is total niavety and stupidity.
It's well known that Robin Cook had started to get a bit 'mouthy/leaky' where the official secrets act was concerned, just before he died. Thats fact.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/wmd.jpg


South Ossetia, manipulation: Images of war, war of images
Thursday August 28 2008 - 14:25

A few days after these pictures had been analyzed by the Russian blog Russia Inside Out and the Serbian blog Byzantine blog as fake ones, staged by the photographer David Mdzinarishvili, some of them have been simply removed from the website of Reuters. Here the deconstruction made by Byzantine blog

http://bellaciao.org/en/IMG/gif/fooling-the-world2.gif

This photo was first published by the Reuters as an image of a "dead woman being carried from the town of Gori". But this "dead woman", incredibly, is clutching the nurse’s arm.

http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article17284